Linux has a kernel, there is a desktop manager, a desktop environment, a distribution, and a whole bunch of other stuff. All these things and other things have version numbers and similar information associated with them. If you are a casual user, you probably don’t know the exact version of any or all of these things you are running at any one moment in time. Then, suddenly, you find out that “Version this-or-that of this thing-or-another is out, have you tried it?” or “The whatchamacalit version of the thingimijob is broken, if you have that upgrade or you will all die!!!” or similar. So then, you want to know what version you are running.<\/p>\n
Here are a few ways to find out that information.<\/p>\n
In KDE, go to the command line and run the command<\/p>\n
That will pop up a box with all sorts of information about what you are running, and about hardware, and all sorts of other things. The current version of kinfocenter has the most annoying tool tips on the planet, but otherwise, is useful.<\/p>\n There is a similar thing in Gnome. Go to the standard toolbar on the top and open up the thingie by that looks like an off on switch or audio level adjuster. That will open a spooky looking box that includes the actual audio volume control, an actual on switch, some other stuff, and a toolbox icon. Open the toolbox icon, and in there, click on about. You won’t get as much info as KDE gives you, but you’ll have the desktop name, version, your computer name, and some basic hardware information.<\/p>\n A lot of information is stored inside variables and system files on your computer. There are therefore a large number of different command line ways to access this information. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n I’m running a current version of KDE, so I get this answer:<\/p>\n The type of window manager is stored in the name of a file in a system directory, and you can get that like this:<\/p>\n There is a command called “env” which invokes a long readout of way more information than you will ever want. But you can grep it. For example:<\/p>\n This is a command that prints out various system information data about the kernel, the machine, the processor, etc. With no options, or just the -s option, it prints out the kernel name, like this:<\/p>\n But you can get much much more<\/p>\n To see all the options, run “man uname” to see the man page.<\/p>\n The Linux command “cat” prints out a file. There are a few cat tricks you can use.<\/p>\n greg@cj:~$ cat \/etc\/issue <\/code><\/p>\n There is a command to print out distribution specific information, with the handy -a switch to dump it all to the screen.<\/p>\n And finally, the command hostnamectl, which allows you to change the hostname (don’t do this if you don’t know what it is) or get information about the hose.<\/p>\n So, now you know how to find out a whole bunch of information you almost never really need, but when you do …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Linux has a kernel, there is a desktop manager, a desktop environment, a distribution, and a whole bunch of other stuff. All these things and other things have version numbers and similar information associated with them. If you are a casual user, you probably don’t know the exact version of any or all of these … Continue reading How do I tell what version of everything I’m running (Linux)<\/span> kinfocenter<\/code><\/p>\ngreg@cj:~$ echo $DESKTOP_SESSION
\nplasma<\/code><\/p>\ngreg@cj:~$ ls \/usr\/bin\/*session
\n\/usr\/bin\/dbus-run-session <\/code><\/p>\ngreg@cj:~$ env | grep DESKTOP
\nDESKTOP_SESSION=plasma
\nXDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=KDE
\nXDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=KDE<\/code><\/p>\ngreg@cj:~$ uname -s
\nLinux<\/code><\/p>\ngreg@cj:~$ uname -srm
\nLinux 4.15.0-42-generic x86_64<\/code><\/p>\ngreg@cj:~$ cat \/etc\/os-release
\nNAME=\"Ubuntu\"
\nVERSION=\"18.04.1 LTS (Bionic Beaver)\"
\nID=ubuntu
\nID_LIKE=debian
\nPRETTY_NAME=\"Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS\"
\nVERSION_ID=\"18.04\"
\nHOME_URL=\"https:\/\/www.ubuntu.com\/\"
\nSUPPORT_URL=\"https:\/\/help.ubuntu.com\/\"
\nBUG_REPORT_URL=\"https:\/\/bugs.launchpad.net\/ubuntu\/\"
\nPRIVACY_POLICY_URL=\"https:\/\/www.ubuntu.com\/legal\/terms-and-policies\/privacy-policy\"
\nVERSION_CODENAME=bionic
\nUBUNTU_CODENAME=bionic<\/p>\n
\nUbuntu 18.04.1 LTS \\n \\l<\/p>\n
\ngreg@cj:~$ lsb_release -a
\nNo LSB modules are available.
\nDistributor ID: Ubuntu
\nDescription: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
\nRelease: 18.04
\nCodename: bionic<\/code><\/p>\ngreg@cj:~$ hostnamectl
\n Static hostname: cj
\n Icon name: computer-desktop
\n Chassis: desktop
\n Machine ID: c9c8b3b223c34d14ae7fcabfbf1f2c1c1ba
\n Boot ID: 6dba797cc332bbababb58c7373dba9797c
\n Operating System: Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS
\n Kernel: Linux 4.15.0-42-generic
\n Architecture: x86-64<\/code><\/p>\n